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First of Chiltern Railways' new locomotives arrives in UK

THE first of six new diesel locomotives to power Chiltern Railways expresses between Oxfordshire, London and the West Midlands has arrived in the UK.

Class 68 locomotive No 68010 was gently lifted on to tracks on a quayside at Liverpool docks on July 31 after arriving by ship from Spain, where it was built in Valencia by German company Vossloh.

It was followed off the ship by No 68011. The other four locomotives will arrive later this year.

Testing of the locomotives will start shortly, followed by training for Chiltern’s train drivers. The locomotives are expected to enter service between Birmingham, Banbury, Bicester and London Marylebone later this year, probably in December.

The 100mph, 3,750-horsepower locomotives are being sub-leased from freight train operator Direct Rail Services (DRS). They will be serviced at Chiltern’s Wembley and Stourbridge depots, with some heavy maintenance carried out at DRS depots in Crewe and Carlisle.

Speaking earlier this year, when the deal with DRS was agreed, Rob Brighouse, the managing director of Chiltern Railways said: “The introduction of new locomotives marks yet another key milestone as part of our investment in the Birmingham to London Marylebone route.”

The Class 68s will replace 12-year-old Class 67s hired from DB Schenker, which have been used since 2010 on the Mainline Silver express trains and “queue-buster” rush-hour commuter trains between Banbury and London.

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Comments

Myron Blatz
3:40pm Sat 16 Aug 14

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!Myron Blatz

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!

Score: 5

Andrew:Oxford
6:25pm Sat 16 Aug 14

Myron Blatz wrote…

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!

Oh Myron. In your haste you missed out the fact that Chiltern Railways is owned by the German state.

Just wait until September, if Scotland goes independent, half the buses in Oxford and every passenger rail service through the city will be operated by a non-UK company...

There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.

[quote][p][bold]Myron Blatz[/bold] wrote:
Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford![/p][/quote]Oh Myron. In your haste you missed out the fact that Chiltern Railways is owned by the German state.
Just wait until September, if Scotland goes independent, half the buses in Oxford and every passenger rail service through the city will be operated by a non-UK company...
There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.Andrew:Oxford

Myron Blatz wrote…

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!

Oh Myron. In your haste you missed out the fact that Chiltern Railways is owned by the German state.

Just wait until September, if Scotland goes independent, half the buses in Oxford and every passenger rail service through the city will be operated by a non-UK company...

There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.

Score: 1

rabbitrr
10:40am Sun 17 Aug 14

We have (or rather had) a perfectly good world leading rail manufacturing industry in this country, so why are we buying foreign Locomotives and rolling stock?

And more importantly, why are we, as passengers then using the trains instead of voting by our feet and boycotting non UK manufactured trains? And yes, I do realise we have to get to work etc but the companies would soon sit up and take notice if the bottom line started getting hit.

The Govt could also help by writing into the operating contracts a few detailed specifications that only UK manufactured locomotives/rolling stock met, by doing that you havent directly said don't use foreign built stuff but as they don't meet the spec they are out of the bidding race.

We have (or rather had) a perfectly good world leading rail manufacturing industry in this country, so why are we buying foreign Locomotives and rolling stock?
And more importantly, why are we, as passengers then using the trains instead of voting by our feet and boycotting non UK manufactured trains? And yes, I do realise we have to get to work etc but the companies would soon sit up and take notice if the bottom line started getting hit.
The Govt could also help by writing into the operating contracts a few detailed specifications that only UK manufactured locomotives/rolling stock met, by doing that you havent directly said don't use foreign built stuff but as they don't meet the spec they are out of the bidding race.rabbitrr

We have (or rather had) a perfectly good world leading rail manufacturing industry in this country, so why are we buying foreign Locomotives and rolling stock?

And more importantly, why are we, as passengers then using the trains instead of voting by our feet and boycotting non UK manufactured trains? And yes, I do realise we have to get to work etc but the companies would soon sit up and take notice if the bottom line started getting hit.

The Govt could also help by writing into the operating contracts a few detailed specifications that only UK manufactured locomotives/rolling stock met, by doing that you havent directly said don't use foreign built stuff but as they don't meet the spec they are out of the bidding race.

Score: 2

rabbitrr
10:29am Sun 17 Aug 14

Andrew:Oxford wrote…

Myron Blatz wrote…

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!

Oh Myron. In your haste you missed out the fact that Chiltern Railways is owned by the German state.

Just wait until September, if Scotland goes independent, half the buses in Oxford and every passenger rail service through the city will be operated by a non-UK company...

There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.

There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.

Then it's about time we cleaned the city up that is to say.... druggies OUT, beggers infestating the shopping areas OUT, clean up the mess on the streets, tidy up grassed areas and parks, sack the transport planners and sort out the one way system/parking making the place friendly to outside visitors, deal with the constant trafic jams resulting from the through traffic to London and beyond, bring abandoned buildings back into use instead of leaving them boarded up and blighting the local areas etc etc

[quote][p][bold]Andrew:Oxford[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]Myron Blatz[/bold] wrote:
Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford![/p][/quote]Oh Myron. In your haste you missed out the fact that Chiltern Railways is owned by the German state.
Just wait until September, if Scotland goes independent, half the buses in Oxford and every passenger rail service through the city will be operated by a non-UK company...
There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.[/p][/quote]There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.
Then it's about time we cleaned the city up that is to say.... druggies OUT, beggers infestating the shopping areas OUT, clean up the mess on the streets, tidy up grassed areas and parks, sack the transport planners and sort out the one way system/parking making the place friendly to outside visitors, deal with the constant trafic jams resulting from the through traffic to London and beyond, bring abandoned buildings back into use instead of leaving them boarded up and blighting the local areas etc etcrabbitrr

Andrew:Oxford wrote…

Myron Blatz wrote…

Here we are in the UK - birthplace of railways and locomotive production - and about to get he new trains for Chiltern Railways which are made in Spain by German company! Still, no worse I suppose than the British-originated 'new' Mini being made in Cowley by another German company, and with many of its workforce originating outside the UK, let alone Oxford!

Oh Myron. In your haste you missed out the fact that Chiltern Railways is owned by the German state.

Just wait until September, if Scotland goes independent, half the buses in Oxford and every passenger rail service through the city will be operated by a non-UK company...

There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.

There simply aren't enough UK people prepared to move to Oxford to work in the city to fill the jobs available - so people from further away grab the opportunities instead.

Then it's about time we cleaned the city up that is to say.... druggies OUT, beggers infestating the shopping areas OUT, clean up the mess on the streets, tidy up grassed areas and parks, sack the transport planners and sort out the one way system/parking making the place friendly to outside visitors, deal with the constant trafic jams resulting from the through traffic to London and beyond, bring abandoned buildings back into use instead of leaving them boarded up and blighting the local areas etc etc

Score: 3

Andrew:Oxford
7:10am Mon 18 Aug 14

rabbitrr wrote…

We have (or rather had) a perfectly good world leading rail manufacturing industry in this country, so why are we buying foreign Locomotives and rolling stock?

And more importantly, why are we, as passengers then using the trains instead of voting by our feet and boycotting non UK manufactured trains? And yes, I do realise we have to get to work etc but the companies would soon sit up and take notice if the bottom line started getting hit.

The Govt could also help by writing into the operating contracts a few detailed specifications that only UK manufactured locomotives/rolling stock met, by doing that you havent directly said don't use foreign built stuff but as they don't meet the spec they are out of the bidding race.

The French have tried that. Read up about what happened when Alstom tried to prevent Siemens from building trains for the channel tunnel...

[quote][p][bold]rabbitrr[/bold] wrote:
We have (or rather had) a perfectly good world leading rail manufacturing industry in this country, so why are we buying foreign Locomotives and rolling stock?
And more importantly, why are we, as passengers then using the trains instead of voting by our feet and boycotting non UK manufactured trains? And yes, I do realise we have to get to work etc but the companies would soon sit up and take notice if the bottom line started getting hit.
The Govt could also help by writing into the operating contracts a few detailed specifications that only UK manufactured locomotives/rolling stock met, by doing that you havent directly said don't use foreign built stuff but as they don't meet the spec they are out of the bidding race.[/p][/quote]The French have tried that. Read up about what happened when Alstom tried to prevent Siemens from building trains for the channel tunnel...Andrew:Oxford

rabbitrr wrote…

We have (or rather had) a perfectly good world leading rail manufacturing industry in this country, so why are we buying foreign Locomotives and rolling stock?

And more importantly, why are we, as passengers then using the trains instead of voting by our feet and boycotting non UK manufactured trains? And yes, I do realise we have to get to work etc but the companies would soon sit up and take notice if the bottom line started getting hit.

The Govt could also help by writing into the operating contracts a few detailed specifications that only UK manufactured locomotives/rolling stock met, by doing that you havent directly said don't use foreign built stuff but as they don't meet the spec they are out of the bidding race.

The French have tried that. Read up about what happened when Alstom tried to prevent Siemens from building trains for the channel tunnel...

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